Mathematical secrets of ancient tablet unlocked after nearly a century of study

[OrbitalDawn]

Dating from 1,000 years before Pythagoras’s theorem, the Babylonian clay tablet is a trigonometric table more accurate than any today, say researchers

At least 1,000 years before the Greek mathematician Pythagoras looked at a right angled triangle and worked out that the square of the longest side is always equal to the sum of the squares of the other two, an unknown Babylonian genius took a clay tablet and a reed pen and marked out not just the same theorem, but a series of trigonometry tables which scientists claim are more accurate than any available today.

The 3,700-year-old broken clay tablet survives in the collections of Columbia University, and scientists now believe they have cracked its secrets.

The team from the University of New South Wales in Sydney believe that the four columns and 15 rows of cuneiform – wedge shaped indentations made in the wet clay – represent the world’s oldest and most accurate working trigonometric table, a working tool which could have been used in surveying, and in calculating how to construct temples, palaces and pyramids.

The fabled sophistication of Babylonian architecture and engineering is borne out by excavation. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, believed by some archaeologists to have been a planted step pyramid with a complex artificial watering system, was written of by Greek historians as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Daniel Mansfield, of the university’s school of mathematics and statistics, described the tablet which may unlock some of their methods as “a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius” – with potential modern application because the base 60 used in calculations by the Babylonians permitted many more accurate fractions than the contemporary base 10.

 

[Xarog]

The Babylonians knew about Pythagorean triples before Pythagoras was born. It's likely he learned what he did about mathematics from the Babylonians.

Their base 60 numbering system is why circles have 360 degrees, why we have 60 minutes in an hour and so forth. 360 is roundly divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12 and 15, which makes it great to work with if you don't have a calculator handy.

 

[maumau]

Numbers

 

[M@gn3t1c]

Their base 60 numbering system is why circles have 360 degrees, why we have 60 minutes in an hour and so forth. 360 is roundly divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12 and 15, which makes it great to work with if you don't have a calculator handy.

Interesting.

 

[M@gn3t1c]

Their base 60 numbering system is why circles have 360 degrees, why we have 60 minutes in an hour and so forth. 360 is roundly divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12 and 15, which makes it great to work with if you don't have a calculator handy.

Interesting.

 

[*SynergyX*]

Aliens...

 

[Aquila ka Hecate]

Aliens...

I know you're probably poking fun, but I hate it when people say that.

It's like our ancestors were so dumb that it must have been aliens.

 

[etienne_marais]

It has been claimed that the further back you go with Babylonian history, the more advanced it was. I don't know if this is a commonly held view though.

 

[AfricanTech]

Aliens...

Naturally

 

[chunk10]

I know you're probably poking fun, but I hate it when people say that.

It's like our ancestors were so dumb that it must have been aliens.

Have you watched Ancient Aliens.

 

[C4Cat]

The Babylonians knew about Pythagorean triples before Pythagoras was born. It's likely he learned what he did about mathematics from the Babylonians.

Their base 60 numbering system is why circles have 360 degrees, why we have 60 minutes in an hour and so forth. 360 is roundly divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12 and 15, which makes it great to work with if you don't have a calculator handy.

Babylonians learned it from the Sumerians before them

 

[konfab]

Interesting, but I doubt whether the calculations are going to be more accurate by changing the base. They might be easier to compute but that doesn't make them more accurate.

For example, you only need 39 digits of pi to measure the circumference of the observable universe down to the accuracy the width of a hydrogen atom.

[video=youtube;FpyrF_Ci2TQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpyrF_Ci2TQ[/video]

One of the commentators of the video did the same calculation in order to find how many digits of pi are needed to measure the observable universe down to the width of a plank length. It is only 61 digits.


Anyway, it is interesting how no mention is made about where the calculations are more precise.

 

[konfab]

Babylonians learned it from the Sumerians before them

That might be correct. However Pythagoras is believed to be the first one to actually prove it.

 

[Ninja'd]

It has been claimed that the further back you go with Babylonian history, the more advanced it was.

One of these days they're gonna find the gravesite of John Sheridan there to prove how advanced they were.

 

[etienne_marais]

One of these days they're gonna find the gravesite of John Sheridan there to prove how advanced they were.

Something analogous happened with the pyramid builders, later pyramids were more flimsy and prone to collapse.

 

[etienne_marais]

Interesting, but not that surprised. The ancient Greeks amalgamated knowledge from many sources, especially the semetic/proto-semetic world, including the Akkadian establishments and Egypt (with Greek,Akkadian and Egyptian societies showing streams of semetic,caucasian and african populations).

 

[Magnum]

Pi aaawgh. now I'm hungry.